pennyspoetryfandomcom-20200214-history
The Garden of Love / Blake
"The Garden of Love" is a poem by English poet William Blake, originally published in his 1794 collection, Songs of Experience. The Garden of Love I went to the Garden of Love, And saw what I never had seen; A Chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play on the green. And the gates of this Chapel were shut, And ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door; So I turned to the Garden of Love That so many sweet flowers bore. And I saw it was filled with graves, And tombstones where flowers should be; And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, And binding with briars my joys & desires. Analysis Blake was unorthodox in his views on theology, but at the same time heavily influenced by orthodox religion, as his art attests. He was deeply disturbed by poverty, child labor, prostitution, and hypocrisy of Church and oppressive nature of government. Understanding this about his personality serves one well in dissecting his poetry. On 1 interpretation, "The Garden of Love" expressex Blake's beliefs on the naturalness of sexuality and how organised religion, particularly the orthodox Christian church of Blake's time with their preaching and rules cause the repression of our natural desires. This was an extremely brave statement to make in his time, with a very direct attack on the orthodox Anglican church with mention of a "Chapel" and "priests". Blake's indignation at his subject matter is evident from the 2nd line as he is talking about seeing "what I had never seen". It is interesting that he says he has "never" seen it when he must have grown up all his life being very aware of the Church's attitude towards sexuality. It can then perhaps be inferred that he is speaking from the point of view of innocence who has just entered the world of experience and is in a state of shock and sadness at how his previous freedoms have been literally blocked and squashed by the Church. "A chapel was built in the midst/ Where I used to play on the green" The "green" has special significance also as it mirrors the contrary poem in innocence "The Echoing Green" hence the reading of the "green" to represent previous, innocent freedom, as well as the more obvious "play". An alternate reading – more in keeping with what is known about Blake, his education and politics, and the times in which he lived – is that the poem simply reflects his views that the Church was an oppressor of free thought. Blake wrote the Songs of Innocence collection to reflect the innocence into which each human is born. Songs of Experience – from which this poem is drawn – points to the effects on the inherent innocence possessed by all, by the oppression of government and church, the Industrial Revolution, and lack of child labor regulations amongst the other evils of the coming modernism. Form The beginning 2 stanzas of the poem are written in a loose Anapestic trimeter and rhyme abcb. The 3rd stanza begins in the same way, but L11-12 make a sharp break with the form of the preceding stanzas. These concluding lines are written in tetrameter rather than trimeter, and they fail to maintain the abcb rhyme scheme. Instead the lines rhyme internally (gowns/''rounds'' and briars/''desires''). These abrupt changes in versification serve to dramatize the changes that have taken place in this "Garden of Love." Blake was a master of lyrical poetry, and cannot be completely understood without appreciating such elements as the careful placement of capital letters, the deliberate hiccups in rhythm (LL 4 and 6), and the disorder that comes with line 11 as the previous order of trimeter suddenly tumbles into chaos with the force of the sudden tetrameter/pentameter (depending upon individual interpretation of rhythm). These last lines suggest a previously ordered world tumbling into disorder. Recognition American poet Allen Ginsberg set the poem to music, on his 1969 recording of the Songs of Innocence and of Experience.Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake, tuned by Allen Ginsberg, Penn Sound. Web, May 20, 2019. See also *Other poems by Blake References External links ;Text *"The Garden of Love" at the Poetry Foundation ;Audio / video *"The Garden of Love" at YouTube Category:1794 poems Category:Poetry by William Blake Category:Text of poem Category:18th-century poems Category:English poems